MBot-ROS: Flexible and scalable mobile robot platform to support robotics coursework at Michigan and beyond

MBot-ROS: Flexible and scalable mobile robot platform to support robotics coursework at Michigan and beyond

Grant:
Gilbert Whitaker Fund for the Improvement of Teaching
Academic Year:
2022 - 2023 (June 1, 2022 through May 31, 2023)
Funding Requested:
$10,000.00
Project Dates:
-
Applicant(s):
kskin
pgaskell
abnarula
Overview of the Project:
The MBot is a small, low-cost mobile robot platform developed at the University of Michigan (UM) to support hands-on labs in robotics courses. The main objective of this proposal is to support development of a new software suite for the MBot platform. The new software suite will be flexible to support modular course development; it will be scalable by enabling easy adaptation, and it will be accessible to the wider robotics community here at Michigan and beyond.

To achieve these objectives, we propose to transition the MBot software from the current Lightweight Communications and Marshalling (LCM) framework to the Robot Operating System (ROS). ROS is an open-source robotics middleware suite, consisting of software libraries and tools that support building robotics applications. ROS is widely used across the wider robotics community. Transitioning to ROS will enable flexibility and scalability for the MBot platform; it will allow for robotics students at UM to get hands-on experience with a valuable software suite used in industry and academic research; and it will increase accessibility of the MBot platform and software for robotics students outside UM as the ROS suite is supported by extensive documentation and an online community of robotics researchers.
Final Report Fields
Project Objectives:

The MBot is a small, low-cost mobile robot platform developed at the University of Michigan (UM) to support hands-on labs in robotics courses. The main objective of this project was to support development of a new software suite for the MBot platform to support modular course development, scalability, and accessibility to the wider robotics community. To achieve this objective, this project focused on transitioning the MBot software from the original Lightweight Communications and Marshalling (LCM) framework to the Robot Operating System (ROS). ROS is an open-source robotics middleware suite, consisting of software libraries and tools that support building robotics applications. ROS is widely used across the wider robotics community. Transitioning to ROS will enable long-term flexibility and scalability for the MBot platform; it will allow for robotics students at UM to get hands-on experience with a valuable software suite used in industry and academic research; and it will increase accessibility of the MBot platform and software for robotics students outside UM as the ROS suite is supported by extensive documentation and an online community of robotics researchers.

Project Achievements:

This project achieved the main objective to develop an MBot-ROS platform. Specifically, we completed the following tasks:

  • Designed the high-level architecture overview for the basic MBot features in a ROS framework
  • Implemented the developed framework 
  • Developed modular nodes for advanced course-specific MBot features 
  • Derived code templates from the developed software to support specific coursework activities
  • Modified curriculum to support the transition to ROS
  • Wrote lab documentation to support new lab modules with the ROS framework

In addition to these achievements in platform development and curriculum modification, we also piloted the MBot-ROS platform in the Fall 2023 course offering of ROB 330: SLAM & Navigation. After a successful pilot of the MBot-ROS, the platform was also used for the Winter 2024 course offering of ROB 330. During Winter 2024, further improvements were made to the code and lab documentation to support coursework related to the platform.

 

Continuation:
The main project aims have been completed. This platform will now continue to be used for future offerings of the ROB 330 course. In continuing to improve the MBot-ROS platform and associated curriculum, we will focus on integrating lab activities that leverage open-source ROS packages for mobile robot perception and navigation. This will allow us to take full advantage of the flexibility and modularity of the MBot-ROS platform. In addition to further development, we will also support efforts to provide resources related to the MBot platform and ROB 330 curriculum to the wider robotics community.
Dissemination:
This work supported ongoing development of the MBot platform within the Robotics Department at the University of Michigan. The MBot-ROS platform developed in this project will continue to be used for ROB 330. In the future, this platform may also be extended to other classes. Additionally, this work will support future efforts to provide resources on the MBot platform and related curriculum materials for the wider robotics community.
Advice to your Colleagues:
Student feedback can be extremely valuable for continuing to improve curriculum and course resources. This project arose from student feedback that more experience with ROS would be helpful to prepare them for a wide range of opportunities in industry and academia that use ROS for robotics applications. We hope that extending the curriculum to support the MBot-ROS platform will provide students with a wider set of tools and skills for their future careers.
PRINTER VERSION
SEND BY EMAIL